March 06 The Arrivals!

[Frizbe]

Hi ladies, have created this to start our postnatal thread, so fire away!

Lol at wearing your dd2 Caddy glad the sling is working well.
Average hectic monday here, got oggled by the teenage staff in McD's this am, as I was BF dd2, whilst ss and dd1 and I tried to grab some breakfast, let me just explain this isn't something I like to do, but as ss lives 50 odd miles away from us and we have to set off at 6.30am to miss the rush hour traffic to get him to school on time, we have an hour and a half to kill before school every other monday, and McD's is the only place open for breakfast there.....killer of a start to the week!

I like the baby bjorn as I can do the dishes without ds screaming! DD doesn't like it though, I think she feels jelous that DS is getting a big long hug, bless her.

Come to think of it, I only like it for about 20 mins before I start to really feel the weight of DS!

wow, alot of catching up to do..to my amazement and all my friends, I am still breastfeeding with more success than I ever envisaged and expressing, to even more amazement as it felt like volunteering to put thumbs in thumb screws at first..cant do more than 3oz at a time but can now do without feeding at same time, hot flannels and compression seem to speed things along nicely now! But cant find any info on which boob to start on and then feed on etc, as I started on ms fords book and gave up after 2 weeks chance of ds doing 20 mins AND 15 mins on other boob v remote!)..ds decided all routines now need to change daily! Shame had model babe till 3 weeks old and now 5 weeks has decided he wants to sleep all day and griz when awake..any recommended threads on bf issue, so many to chose from on breastfeeding! Want to introduce formula for night as not getting more than 2.5 hours in between feeds and ds only taking 2oz on expressed bottle at 11pm..any advice? Enough about my issues, so good to hear nights getting better for most, and am hoping ds will follow as think he was last arrival so still hope yet! munz any luck on wind issues..still pouring infacol down ds throat to no avail at night..Catj and jackstini am thinking of you, puts all my niggles in prospective..cant beleive how many of you in pre pregnancy jeans, soo jealous, whats the secret? Gotta go, ds awake and grizzing again...you gotta love em though eh? Will try and keep up better as I have real struggle doing message and remembering what I want to say on individual posts as not very pc literate and it takes me ages to keep flicking up and down! Take care all!

I have an \link{http://www.otsbh.net/slings/slings.html\Over the Shoulder Baby Holder} and I love it! I find the baby bjorn thingies too complicated and impossible to feed with. I also have a rather bad back and neck so the two strap style seems to pinch all of my nerves...

manicmum- try not to get tooo stressed about the short sleeps thing. If you can only get 2oz down DS at late night feed hes probadly just not big enough yet to go for a long time between feeds, hes only got a little stomach.They do grow and quite fast! most seem to get better at longer sleeps as they get bigger. I've been with 2 x 11wk olds today and they seem SOOOO much further developed than my Ed.
at 5wks Ed was nowhere near as long a sleeper as he is now at 8.5wks. even now its only 3.5hrs normally, tho he seems to be changeing his timetable again... I'm struggling to work out when hes likley to be hungrey over the last 2 days and getting it wrong a few times resulting in mum with rock hard boobs and baby whos just not interested in the feed hes being offered and has the screaming ab dabs when he gets sqirted with milk.Bed time has been early or late as hes not on our timetable at all at teh mo, I think we need to re-negociate things agian.

Been at baby school today- I've started a course called "heres looking at you baby" all about infant development and parent child interactions. looks like it will be interesting. curiosly all the babies in the group are boys, must have been a run of lads in our area recently.

Uni It's not just lads in your area, we have loads here too, only seem to know one girl again from aquanatal! still my dd's will have lots of boys hearts to break when they're older
Routine is supposed to go wake, feed, play, sleep, but hey that's what the books say eh! we all know it goes differently....hope you get ds sorted again soon.
Baby school thing sounds interesting, who runs it?

Manic, agree with Uni, his stomach is probably just a bit small to hold more feed at the mo, give him a week or two and he'll start sleeping longer, in the meantime would he sleep a little longer next to you? I know it goes against current advice, but if it gets you feeling sane again?

Caddy like the look of that sling! although managing quite well without having to use one much here at the mo

Hi to all, hope your enjoying a nice sunny day!

Hav'nt posted for a while, the girls take up alot of my time and trying to start selling jewellery that i have been making.
Saffron is doing well, she only wakes once in the night, her big sister is still awake in the night. Saffron is 10lb130z now and she's feeding very well and she's wearing 3-6 month clothes (shes not fat, just very long).
Dh has got a new job after being off work for 2 years with depression which meens im at home with out a car which will take a bit of getting used 2, i live in a tiny village with no shops and no toddler group.
Trying to potty train dd1 which just is'nt working (maybe she's not ready)

Hope you are all well.

friz - 50 miles at that time of the morning! wow, thats dedication for you, its a shame there sin't a nice little cafe around there, although then would probably be too tempting to have a buig fry up! LOL!

marne - re potty training, they soon do it once they are ready, i have found with my 2 boys that if i tried to do it when i was ready they would make more washing for me than anything else, so i left it for a couple of months and just left the potty out for them to get used to and talkd about using the toilet and what big boys they would be and one day they both just decided to use it, the only thing was ds1 decided to use it whilst i was changing the beds and brought it up to show me, needless to say it was almost empty by the time he got there!

munz- if you see this posted clothes for joey today, sorry i'm useless at rememvering to take everything out with me and so forgot when i went to p/o last week! hope it still fits him when it gets to you.

had my postnatal check yesterday and all is fine, gp said not to start exercise or diet until 12 weeks though!! has anyone else been told this, i'm still joining slimming world next week (9 weeks) and starting swimming as well. as m/w i always say not to start anything strenuous and that gentle exercise is good from as soon as you feel ready, stomache and pelvic floor exercise essential from day one!

marne - forgot to say congrats to your dh on the new job! :o

Friz: I only use the sling in the house as a last resort (like when dinner is going to burn unless I am in the kitchen and DD2 is fussy). I never like to have a tiny baby in a push-chair/pram in a big city full of cars so I just carry them in the sling until they are about 6 months. My OTSBH has been up to the top of the Empire State Building as well as the top of the Eifel Tower with DS1 and later with DS2...

I just bought my friend a really cute book called \link{http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?S=R&qwork=8946053&qsort=p&siteID=Pw2LQAj_zJk-05kADkvTh.tzKVZWywhqjw\Mother to Daughter: Shared Wisdom from the Heart.} She just had her 5th baby and it is their 1st girl! I might have to get a copy of it myself.

Marne: I hope you don't go bonkers in your wee village. Congratulations to your DH though! I hope it all goes brilliantly!

Manic: I agree about the little tummy and sleep time. It will come soon. Hang in there!

friz- baby school is a surestart centre thing, so ludicus cheap- 50p a wk x8 wks!
VikiYY- i fogot to ask gp about exercise:-) i started running on monday (+8wk)- did about 3km during 45 min, but as was track session each run was no more than 600m before having a breather, managed to keep my pace steady througout which was good

um, little boy seems to be filling his nappy... ho hum, must go, only the 3rd change in as many hours!

Well the car is now just about packed for our road trip , starting tomorrow we spend the weekend going to Badmington, Burford,Scarborough, nottingham and Glouscester! in teh car is teh pram, loads of nappies, muslins,clothes etc for the boy, two unicycles and a badge maker, to add in the morning is a big bag of grown ups clothes, the change bag and a hockey stick.
Damm I'm good at packing, I've still got the parcel shelf in and its only a small faily hatch back. All those years packing vans have really paid off in transferable skills. Sorry I just needed to show off to someone about that!
Wish us luck as we take the boy on a big adventure. I'm hoping he will settle down and feed in a more conventional manner than two of todays feeds were- boy has taken again lieing on his right so to feed from L boob is lieing on his back under my arm, bad enough in an arm chair but on the bed he looked V odd as his feet were on the bed but bum was in mid air.

Uni you need a v cushion for that manouvre he's doing!! agree van packing does get you fab skills for smaller vehicles enjoy your mass tour this weekend!
Marne, hope you don't go stir crazy hon, good job you've got MN eh!
Re the potty training I agree they usually get it when they want to, dd2 decided last week that she wanted to be a big girl again (was trained ok before Xmas, then decided not to be with all the excitement and has only just got it back) and now everything is going on the toilet/potty, the only time it didn't was when I was trying to do something else for me this morning, and in objection to me not pandering to her, she wee'd herself....hmmmmmm.......she soon realised when I cancelled her trip out with her friends, that wasn't the way to go (evil mummy )

My dd arrived on 6th March so is now 10 weeks old. She still isn't really in a routine, I've tried to get her into one but it doesn't seem to last. Anyone else in a routine yet? Can you give me an example? Lost 1st ds at 9 weeks so everything from now on is new to me

Jelly, I am so sad for you that you lost you DS, and so happy for you that your DD is well. My DS arrived on March 9th, so very close in age to your DD.

We don't have a routine yet either, although I can just see the beginnings of routine emerging... by this I mean the "wake-feed-play-sleep" routine. I am finding that DS follows this pattern more often now, whereas before he often didn't have the 'play' time, or had another feed before sleep (he still does that sometimes) or was just generally unsettled and chaotic!.

I'm finding that he usually has about 2 decent sleeps a day (say 1-2 hours) and the rest of the time the cycles are much shorter and he just naps and wakes and naps and wakes.

If I remember correctly from DD (now 2), they gradually get into a more distinct 'cycle' pattern and may go slightly longer between feeds (DS only lasts 2 hours usually, sometimes 3) over the next few months, but a real "routine" doesn't really come until they get on to 2 sleeps a day, which I think happens some time around 6 months(????)Actually I can't really remember...will have to consult DDs baby book! Anyway, all babies are different, obviously.

I think at this age you just have to try and go with the flow...it drives me mad...I look forward to 2 sleeps a day...not that I am a very organised person or anything, just that I like a bit more predicatability :o...at least they are quite portable at this age!

Oh Jelly sorry to hear about your ds but also very glad your dd is doing well welcome to the thread!
We appear to have a routine of sorts which has just started appearing in the last 7 days or so...here goes ladies
dd2 wakes at 5.30/6am and feeds then drops off again, at 8.30-9am she wakes and feeds again, stays awake until 11am, feeds, sometimes naps, sometimes stays awake till 13:00 then feeds and sleeps until 16:00ish when she wakes and feeds again, then is awake until 18:30-19:00 when she feeds again and goes to bed (so I usually lob a bath in at 18:30 to try and pre empt her, I then change her nappy at 23:00 and give her a bottle of Expressed milk, and she goes until 5.30. HTH's.

Yes that sounds a bit like Bonnie. She wakes at about 5.30-6.00 to feed or sometimes just cuddle and then sleeps til about 9 ish, feeds and stays awake. Sometimes she won't sleep at all during the day and seems to interested in whats going on around her. She does play a bit but she just likes to be picked up and carried around. If she does sleep in the morning, it can vary from 11:00 - 13:00 or sometimes she seems to close her eyes for just 10 mins ata time. She is normally a bit grisly from 20:00 onwards and seems to feed all thru the evening. Its the evening we don't seem to have settled as much yet. Dh works a 3 day shift pattern, so he likes to cuddle her when he gets in, even if shes asleep! Have told him off as this won't encourage her to go to sleep

Hi all, we changed internet providers and lost our connection for ages so just had a catch up.
Glad all babies are well and welcome to Jelly - these last few weeks must have been really hard for you after losing your DS so early.
Interested to read of your routines. I think Kiah does have one but I should try and write it down. She does sleep at night and goes 9-2 or 3am but then tends to feed every couple of hours which is not ideal. Think I may move her into the playroom soon and see if she puts herself back to sleep better out of my immediate hearing.
Can't remember who posted about frequent feeding but Kiah had a 4oz bottle of ebm last night (a deal with DP after a whole day of hangover ) and still woke up and fed at 3.30! I would hang off on introducing formula just yet.
We had last weekend in London and it all went OK. Stayed at my auntie's so took our cloth nappies too, by the way am being more and more impressed with my varieties of Totsbots for doing 12 hour stints at night.
Oh yeah, gave in to rhubarb crumble and mega repercussions in the nappy dept!!! Anyone else get bright green poo afer broccoli too? Baby not Mum!!!

Welcome JN: I am sorry about yoour first baby. How do you manage such sadness? As the others have said, it is a blessing that you have your dd. Your 'schedule' sounds similar to my dd2's (born march 4). She does 'stack feed' in the evening but the trade off is that she sleeps from 12-6 am most nights. I am a bad mother for allowing her to fall asleep at the breast so her cycle usually ends with a feed as well. My babies seem to sleep longer if they have full tummies and I am not strong enough to have them cry themselves to sleep...

I just found out that dd2 has no health insurance because of a mix up at dh's work! The cute thing is that it will take 'a few weeks' to kick in! Charming... I can hardly wait to get the bills--NOT!

and then you'll have moved to Austria Caddy! will you still need it there, or do they have an nhs type system?
LL interesting now you mention the rhubarb, I had some the other day and come to think of it, nappy was slightly greener than usual! didn't relate the two until you mentioned it tho not had a problem with broccoli tho....

Hello all, new hi to jelly, my DS, Ed is also 9 wks.
Well we be back from our road trip. Little lad was ceratinly portable, that will be a LOT harder once hes crawling. He coped V well with switching where he slept and bedtime worked in the carry cot and travle cot in 3 differnt rooms, only place it
didn;t work was in the pram at a chelidh ( in a side room , but still quite noisey and light).So we kept him up late on two evenings and he then settled just fine at 11ish after his normal late feed. Feeding settled down but I've discovered hes not keen on feeding where its noisey and busy, Ithink he finds it distracting , so I've been seeking out slightly less manic places. Even used the parent & baby room at a Moto service station on the M1 and was pleasently surprised.
Dh has been picked for the UK Unicycle Hockey A team for the world championships! Rah for him.

Jelly- Ed s routine at 9wks is along the lines of
6-7am wake up, feed, nappy change, fill nappy, play, bath or no nappy time, dressed.
8.30ish- nap
10ish, nappy checked,put in pram and off we go to what ever we are going to today.
day time he will sleep a bit, feed a few times, play lots, not much of a timetable tho.
late afternoon- nap
6pm- daddy comes home, play time.
Once he gets grumpy ( Ed, not daddy) we do bedtime routine ( normally between 6.30 and 7.30) of nappy, babygrow, feed in dark bedroom, put into cot when dopey and full. nappy check & feed at about 10.30ish, he wakes him self at 2-3am for a feed and wakes him self at 6-7am. Its not a routine we have "imposed" its one we have negociated. bedtime took a few days to get it working then we crept the time forward and now its his early evening grump that triggers it so we don't have to live with a grumpy boy all evening.
If you do decide to go for a gina ford type imposed routine- good luck. its suits some babies but a lot of parents find it very difficult and plenty of babies just don;t fit her pattern. You might need to negociate with your DP about when he plays with baby when hes on late shifts. My Dh (who plays cricket A LOT on summer evenings)can go for a day or two not seeing him awake for more than 10 min in the morning, but at weekend and other nights will play with him and look after him a lot more.
Good luck and enjoy your little girl.

Uni-Sarah: I am glad that Ed was so portable. All but our dd1 have been fine on the road too.

Our lives continue to be exciting/hectic. Still no passport answers for dd2 but thankfully dd2 now has health insurance again.

I am in agony today with what I assume is sciatica. My left leg keeps falling asleep. Rather frustrating.

Hope you are all well. DD2 is giving us the biggest smiles and giggles today. She follows me around with her eyes unless I am holding her too.

ello all, thought i'd stop by as it's been soooo long since I lasty did. hope everyone's doing OK. looks like the baby's are settleing down a touch, Joey's doing well - well a lot better than he could do, still has the off day, a typical day for us is up between 6/7 (althou he did pull an 8am once - literally once! lol)feed/nappychange/get dressed/little play then asleep a napin his chair after about an hour ish.
feeds 10.30-11.00 isih (in that time I try to tiday the house up and get showered etc, or today walked the dogs) then little play and back asleep for a nap around 12ish normally 1.5-2hours
feeds again 1.30-2.00pm same again, play on his mat/ singing/dancing with me- what must the neighbours think! lol. again approx 1.5hours
then another feed approx 5ish ready for daddy to come home at 6 and have our dinner/a play with Joey, then it's one boob about 7ish with daddy giving him a bath/getting dressed, then the other boob quite cuddles and in bed between 8-8.30 (some days 9) then he'll wake approx 1-1.30am for a bottle of ebm 5oz, and he's back down till 5.30-6ish give or take.

well gals next week's our 12 week jabs my abbay's 12 weeks tomorrow :( he's not been weighed since the 8 week jabs when they said he was 12lb 2oz the porker! :o lol. althou his feeding of late hasn't been too good - he's still sleeping/playing ok, apart form last week when he had a cold/growth spurt poor lamb, all he wanted to do was sleep and he was so hot it was horrid. i'm predicting about 13.5 - 14lb this time.

anyhow this time I must keep up! :o lol. (ooh and already thinking about no 2 as well lol).

vik - I didn't get them? - odd will search my garage incase they're there.

'ello all bit quiet on this thread of late, all busy I guess!
Hi Munz, nice to see you popping by!
We've got our 2nd jabs the week after you Munz.

So what's everyone doing for the bank hols then, we're off camping/running an event down near Bridgend again! the start of many over the summer months, oh the joys of the M42/M5/M50/M4 journeys to come, wonder howmany roadworks this year Hope dd2 likes the camping! dd1 will be interesting as last time we went she still fitted in the travel cot (last Aug before she was 2) alas escape prevention no more, fingers x'd she stays on her airbed and in her sleeping bag ok dd2 will be in with us until she hits 6mths, then its the travel cot for her also.